I was hanging out with a vegan friend of mine and he told me he gets this question/comment a lot:

"As a vegetarian, you must eat a lot chicken, right?"

Or

"As a vegetarian, you must really like chicken."

Or

"As a vegan, you must eat a lot of fish, right?"

Has anyone else had these kinds of questions? I actually haven't had too many, maybe like 2 in the last 10 years, but my vegan friend says he gets that in person and in e-mails quite frequently. For some reason, people think chicken and fish are vegetarian foods?????????????

So he replies, "yes, I do like chicken, that is why I don't eat them." Or he'll say, "no actually vegetarians don't eat meat, and chicken is a form of meat."

Some people are silly.

For example:

Something I do get All The Time, is that people think chocolate comes from cows. Anyone else heard that?????????

I get it all the time, people are convinced that chocolate is a milk product because they can only think of chocolate in milk forms.

tonight someone thought chocolate came from cows, cause I was eating some vegan dark chocolate. it was quite funny. I had to explain what a cocoa bean was.

Ive also gotten the chicken and fish thing before. most people also think I eat a lot of raw eggs.. wierd right?

I normally say I am vegan and I dont consume or use any animal or animal byproducts.

a lot of ppl think its really hard to be vegan, so strict and you cant eat anything fun. but i think its really neat when they are eating something, and I start to eat it too. and they are like "hey u cant eat that".and i am like "its vegan, didnt ya know that?". and they are like "nope. wow i guess being vegan its not so bad afterall."

My mom likes to offer me shrimp and crab cakes a lot. In return, I like to point out when she's eating accidental vegan food. Or sometimes I just tell her something has tofu in it; she's terrified.

Worse, though, I had a doctor who didn't know what a vegan was. I saw that he wrote on my chart "vegan-like diet." He also asked me how I knew animals were being abused in slaughterhouses if I had never been to one. I asked him if he had ever been to Australia, and when he replied, "No," I asked him how he knew it existed. That pretty much ended the conversation. Heh.

a doctor ...asked me how I knew animals were being abused in slaughterhouses if I had never been to one. .

That kind of ignorrance, especially from educated people who you would think have common sense, pisses me off. Its not even ignorrance; its willful blindness. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that in an environment like a slaughterhouse, all KINDS of sadistic abuse of animals is more likely than not to be happening. Honestly, it is COMMON SENSE to figure that, since the workers there are pretty desensitized to buthcering, death, and terriried and ssqueeling animals (you would HAVE to be desensitized to be murdering terrified animals (although in this case legally sanctioned) from 9 to 5 or whatever. SO take a whole bunch of desensitized slaughterhouse workers, put them in a room with struggling and squeeling animals that are probably fighting until their last breath (and thereby giving the slaughterhouse workers a "hard time" in their own words), and add the fact that it is behind CLOSED doors, out of the public's sight and mind, and what are you likely to get? Animal abuse, and even worse but just as likely, sadistic animal cruelty.

Tell that moron of a doctor that undercover video footage of sadistic abuse of animals by slaughterhouse workers is ABUNDANT. SO if he cannot come to the above conclusions based on common sense (common sense dictates that desensitized butchers + sturggling and kicking animals + a closed door environment= certain animal abuse and sadistic cruelty). If he doesn't have this much common sense and needs actual proof, there is lots of it out there, KFC and Pilgrim's Pride, and that supposedly KOSHER slaugherhouse (cannot remember the name) being a perfect example, where cows had their throats ripped right out while they were still conscious by slaugherhouse workers in a KOSHER slaughterhouse!!!

But c'mon people, none of that is necessary. Use your common sense to figure out what kind of evil lurks in those atmospheres. They are not exactly staffed by soft and kind hearted, merciful people. It ain't rocket science, so your doctor is a friggin moron, and I cannot believe how somebody that obviously lacks common sense and rational thought could have made it through medical school!!![/u]

Yeah, my doctor also suggested I had an eating disorder because of my vegan diet and scrawny stature. But I have been thin all my life. Anyway, now I go to a nutritionist who is actually knowledgeable of and sympathetic to my lifestyle and who is helping me make considerable gains. Woot.

Anyway, in regard to slaughterhouse workers, I think you are somewhat right - they have to desensitize themselves to their daily work. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), I believe, ranked it as the worst place to work. My sister's ex-boyfriend actually worked at a hog slaughterhouse, and he went home crying every night because he couldn't stand having to prod the animals back in line. And this was a guy who was raised on a farm. He also stopped the line one time because he thought it had been contaminated, and he later got hell because it cost the company money. Two of his co-workers actually showed up at the motel where he was staying later that night and tried to beat him up. The whole lot of the industry is pretty despicable.

He also stopped the line one time because he thought it had been contaminated, and he later got hell because it cost the company money. Two of his co-workers actually showed up at the motel where he was staying later that night and tried to beat him up. The whole lot of the industry is pretty despicable.

So you have direc personal experience (or know somebody who does) with what animal righst groups have been trying to tell people for years:

the ONLY thing the meat industry cares about is its profits - NOT consumer health, and least of all, the HUMANE killing of animals. THis is why we say that chicken and pigs are frequently scladed ALIVE - because do you think that they are going to stop the killing line in order to make sure one animal, who was not properly stunned, does not suffer??? Of course not. And many animals are not properly stunned and are therefore drowned in scaldig water while fully alive. And the company doesn't give a shit. NOt even about contaminated meat and consumer health. I get so frustrated with human stupidity and I actually know a very smart and otherwise decent girl who loves pets that actually said to me:

"Evil is subjective. I don't think the meat industry is evil. If it was evil, I wouldn't support. You just say it is evil because you think people should be vegetarians."

HHHHEEEEEELLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO???? Can you seriously be so stupid as to think that the meat industry isn't evil? Friggin morons. YOu continue to delude yourselves while the animals pay the price of your wilfull stupidity.

Get real people. There are few industries in the world that are as EVIL - plain and simple - as the meat industry, which doesn't give a flying f^%k about human health and consumer safety, let alone basic decency towards the animals from whom they make their blood money. There have been countless NEWS documentaries here (not even filmed by animal rights people, but rather, filmed by conservative news journalists who aren't even vegetarian) that have shown animals being butchered on dirty floors with dull, RUSTY blades, etc. all caught on news tape. All this puts consumer health at risk, not to mention how painful it must be for the animal who is being cut up while stile alive with a DULL knide!!!!!

Humans are idiots. What's it gonna take for people to GET REAL and see things for what they reallly are?

Your not going to die if you stop eating meat, but you can bet your bottom dollar that if you don't stop eating meat, it is what will probably kill you in the end, either through disease, contamination, etc. So to everybody who is not even vegetarian yet - do you yourself a favour and stop supporting an industry that is going to lead to the demise of your health, and the planet!!! Raising animals for food is KILLING our environment. WE cannot live without a planet in tact people. Think about future generations and be a little less selfish.

okay I am all fired up and pissed off now I am tired of human stupidity and selfishness!!!!!

I believe the slaughterhouse workers have a higher incidence of suicide than police officers. And cops see people who have blown off their heads, deal with hostage negotiations, terrorism, junkies, etc.

I had a friend of mine that knew I was a vegetarian my come up to me and he said ohh well I'm going more vegetarian too, I dont eat as much beef. I really didnt know what to tell him, but it seems to me that people think vegetarianism is just about not eating red meat. My grandparents really had a hard time with me not eating some kind of animal. I havn't even bothered to explain veganism to them.

On another topic the owner of whole foods says he is a vegan, but with one difference from us. He eats eggs. Yes he believes the eggs are okay since they come from chickens he owns. I think he misses the point of a vegan diet, what do you all think?

ya know what. IT is hard to get people to acknowledge that animals have rights not to be exploited. BUt so long as the guy doesn't abuse his chickens, treats them well, isn;t going to eventually eat them or sellthem to soembody who will, and they are all happy chickens, then I am happy. I am tired of going the whole animals rights route because it is a hard sell to many people that animals have rights like people do.

It needn't be about rights. IT is as simple as compassion and empathy. You follow those two principles in life and you cannot go wrong.

Rights talk is threatening to people for some reason. We need to do what works - what will get people consuming less animals. if we demand perfection, otherwise sympathetic people might feel that they will never measure up to that standard and so why even bother trying at all. Hence, we will have lost a potential vegetarian or strict vegetarian. NOt good from the animals perspective.

On another topic the owner of whole foods says he is a vegan, but with one difference from us. He eats eggs. Yes he believes the eggs are okay since they come from chickens he owns. I think he misses the point of a vegan diet, what do you all think?

I didn't know the owner of Whole Foods was "vegan" - that's pretty cool. He certainly seems to miss the point about animal byproducts being unnecessary. But I tend to adopt Vegan Outreach's mantra that veganism is not about personal purity; it's about reducing suffering. In this light, since he's harvesting the eggs from chickens he hopefully treats well, I see no major ethical problem. Still, I probably wouldn't call myself vegan if I ate eggs.

it reminds me of that scene in my big fat greek wedding when the fiance is meeting the girls family. one of the aunts invites him over for dinner, and the girl mentions that her fiance is vegetarian , he doesn't eat any meat. "What do you mean he don't eat no meat?!" *record scratches*

then she replies "Oh that's ok, I'll make some lamb".

_________________"we must become the change we wish to see in the world" - Gandhi -

I was reading in this book about different degrees of vegetarianism. One of them was a vegetarian that are chicken! WHAT????!!! Does that even make sense? I thought a vegetarian did not kill animals for food source...including the vegetable known as FISH! What is it with people and fish? Do they think it is a sea vegetable? Everytime I tell someone I do not eat meat....I get asked if I still eat fish. I always have to explain that it is an animal...therefore I do not eat it. It has a central nervous system and feels pain too.

Anyway, just had to rant! LOL

_________________Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you - Emerson

Ah man, I read all the posts in this thread, and it happens a lot that people think fish is veg*n. And yeah it isn't uncommon that they think chicken is vegetarian. I once picked up some calcium (with vitamin D) tablets from a shelf in a store which said 'vegetarian' on them (not vegan), and I asked the person in the store what ingredient in them isn't vegan. They said that the vitamin D comes from fish. I said fish isn't even vegetarian. They said 'Yes it is; that's the difference between a vegan and a vegetarian, vegans don't eat fish'. Nonsense

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